You’ve likely heard the refrain “prices are going up!” way too often lately, but in this case, we are not talking about the price of eggs, but rather the behemoth of the watch industry, Rolex. It’s unusual (but not unprecedented) for Rolex to raise prices twice in a year - but they’ve done it two years running now, in both 2025 and 2026. Before those two years of dual price increases, why did prices go up every year for five years straight after sitting steady for seven years in a row? It’s worth taking a closer look at what causes price fluctuations in the first place. Price Increases for Rolex, ExplainedAnnual-ish price increases were the norm for Rolex for decades until a freeze settled in, roughly from 2012-2019. This freeze was strictly a U.S. phenomenon, largely due to the relationship between the US dollar and the Swiss Franc. Rolex prices its watches in local currency, and effectively treats the US dollar and Swiss franc as its “reserve currencies”, the ones least likely to see increases. If a currency has devalued relative to CHF or USD in a given year, Rolex adjusts prices in that market the following January 1st to compensate.